(MY) turtle island

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Thursday November 9, 2006 - The Star

 

 

Malacca's turtle island up for sale

 

MALACCA: Pulau Upeh, where endangered Hawksbill turtles come to lay

their eggs, is up for sale.

 

And the Fisheries Department wants to buy the island where 30% of all

the Hawksbill turtle eggs collected in the state are found.

 

 

CLOSE TO MAINLAND: Pulau Upeh is just a 20-minute boat ride from the

jetty at Malacca River.

The department was in talks with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), which

bought the island from the state government in 2003, Fisheries

Department director-general Datuk Junaidi Che Ayub said.

 

Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam will write to TNB

asking that the company sell the island at the same price it bought it

three years.

 

 

NEW HOME: Villagers looking on as a total of 108 Hawksbill hatchlings

were released to the sea at Kuala Sungai Baru on Tuesday night.

It was reported that the island was sold to TNB for RM10.306mil

according to a memorandum signed between Yayasan Melaka and TNB on Jan

29, 2003.

 

Junaidi said the department was planning to turn the island into a

research and management centre for the turtles as part of its turtle

conservation programme.

 

He said this to reporters after releasing 108 Hawksbill hatchlings at

a beach in Kuala Sungai Baru on Tuesday night.

 

Mohd Ali was also there to launch the Malacca Hawksbills Satellite

Telemetry website at the West Malacca Fishermen Association.

 

" We will construct a training centre for our staff along with a

hatching centre and chalets, " Junaidi said.

 

Despite a landmass of just 2.8ha, the island produced up to one third

of the state's total 42,424 eggs collected from 355 landings recorded

between January and September this year. Malacca is also the largest

landing site for Hawksbills in the peninsula.

 

Mohd Ali said the satellite telemetry website would offer data

gathered from tracking the migratory patterns of turtles fixed with

transmitters.

 

This would enable scientists and researchers worldwide to formulate

better conservation programmes.

 

Three hawksbills were each fixed with a satellite transmitter on June

16, Aug 26 and Aug 29 by the Fisheries Department, in cooperation with

South-East Asian Development Centre-Marine Fishery Resources

Development and Management Department (SEAFDEC-MFRDMD) from

Chendering, Terengganu and WWF-Malaysia.

 

However, the migratory routes of only two Hawksbills' can be seen on

the website: www.wwfmalaysiaorg/turtles